Applying pregenerated virtual experiences in new location

ABSTRACT

Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system for providing virtual experiences. The system performs operations including selecting, by a messaging application, a virtual experience that represents a previously captured real-world environment at a first location; accessing an image representing a new real-world environment at a second location, the image depicting a plurality of real-world objects; receiving input that selects a first real-world object from the plurality of real-world objects depicted in the image; and modifying the image, accessed at the second location, based on the virtual experience to depict the previously captured real-world environment with the first real-world object.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to providing augmented realityexperiences using a messaging application.

BACKGROUND

Augmented Reality (AR) is a modification of a virtual environment. Forexample, in Virtual Reality (VR), a user is completely immersed in avirtual world; whereas in AR, the user is immersed in a world wherevirtual objects are combined or superimposed on the real world. An ARsystem aims to generate and present virtual objects that interactrealistically with a real-world environment and with each other.Examples of AR applications can include single or multiple player videogames, instant messaging systems, and the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. To easily identifythe discussion of any particular element or act, the most significantdigit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number inwhich that element is first introduced. Some nonlimiting examples areillustrated in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a networked environment inwhich the present disclosure may be deployed, in accordance with someexamples.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic representation of a messaging clientapplication, in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of a data structure asmaintained in a database, in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a message, in accordance withsome examples.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example pre-generated virtualexperience system, according to some examples.

FIGS. 6-9 are diagrammatic representations of outputs of thepre-generated virtual experience system, in accordance with someexamples.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of thepre-generated virtual experience system, according to some examples.

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of a machine in the form of acomputer system within which a set of instructions may be executed forcausing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein, in accordance with some examples.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a software architecture within whichexamples may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative examples of the disclosure. In the followingdescription, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific detailsare set forth in order to provide an understanding of various examples.It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art, that examplesmay be practiced without these specific details. In general, well-knowninstruction instances, protocols, structures, and techniques are notnecessarily shown in detail.

Typically, VR and AR systems allow users to add AR elements to theirenvironment (e.g., captured image data corresponding to a user'ssurroundings). Such systems can recommend AR elements based on variousexternal factors, such as a current geographical location of the userand various other contextual clues. Some AR systems allow a user tocapture a video of a room and select from a list of available ARelements to add to a room to see how the selected AR element looks inthe room. These systems allow a user to preview how a physical itemlooks at a particular location in a user's environment, which simplifiesthe purchasing process. While these systems generally work well, theyrequire a user to manually select which AR elements to display withinthe captured video and where to place the AR elements. Specifically, theuser of these systems has to spend a great deal of effort searchingthrough and navigating multiple user interfaces and pages of informationto identify an item of interest. Then the user has to manually positionthe selected item within view. In many cases, the user is unaware of thedimensions of the AR elements, which results in the user placing the ARelements in unrealistic locations. These tasks can be daunting and timeconsuming, which detracts from the overall interest of using thesesystems and results in wasted resources.

Also, allowing the user to place the AR elements in unrealisticlocations can result in the user believing a corresponding real-worldproduct fits in the room and can lead the user to mistakenly purchasingthe corresponding product. This ends up frustrating the user when theuser ends up discovering that the corresponding real-world product doesnot fit in the room and reduces the level of trust the user has in theAR and VR systems.

In some cases, the user places an AR element in a particular location inthe AR system. After placing the AR element, the user can move thecamera to capture a video of another portion of the environment whichdoes not include the positioned AR element. Namely, the AR elementdisappears from view when the camera is moved to capture a video of alocation in the real-world environment in which the AR element was notplaced. In this case, the user may not realize where the AR element waspreviously placed relative to the current location that is beingdisplayed in the video. This can cause the user to become disorientedand confused and ends up frustrating the user.

The disclosed techniques improve the efficiency of using an electronicdevice which implements or otherwise accesses an AR/VR system byintelligently automatically generating a set of virtual environmentsthat represent different real-world environments associated with a user.For example, the set of virtual environments can include a first virtualenvironment generated using a three-dimensional (3D) model of real-worldobjects present at a first location (e.g., a first room in a home) and asecond virtual environment generated using a 3D model of real-worldobjects present at a second location (e.g., a second room in a home).The disclosed techniques allow the user to enter a new physicallocation, such as a showroom in a store and to launch or access one ofthe previously generated virtual environments. The disclosed techniquesreceive input from the user that selects one or more real-world objectspresent at the new physical location in a video feed that is captured atthe new physical location.

After the one or more real-world objects are selected, the previouslygenerated virtual environment is launched and presented over the videofeed that depicts objects at the new physical location. The disclosedtechniques can overlay the previously generated virtual environment overall of the real-world objects that are depicted in the video feed exceptthe one or more real-world objects that were selected by the receivedinput. In this way, the video is modified to represent thethree-dimensional (3D) model of real-world objects of the first location(or other selected location) in which the selected real-world objects ofthe new physical location are depicted. This allows the user tovisualize how one or more real-world objects in a new physical locationwill look in a previously generated virtual environment of a differentlocation (e.g., a room in the user's home). Using the disclosedtechniques, the user can enter a store and see how physical objects inthe store look like in the user's home which is represented by theselected virtual experience. The disclosed techniques enable the user towalk around the real-world object of the new physical location andupdate the views of the virtual environment so the user can see how thereal-world object looks at different places in the user's homerepresented by the virtual environment.

Specifically, the disclosed techniques select, by a messagingapplication, a virtual experience that represents a previously capturedreal-world environment at a first location. The disclosed techniquesaccess an image representing a new real-world environment at a secondlocation, the image depicting a plurality of real-world objects. Thedisclosed techniques receive input that selects a first real-worldobject from the plurality of real-world objects depicted in the image.The disclosed techniques, in response to the input, modify the image,accessed at the second location, based on the virtual experience todepict the previously captured real-world environment with the firstreal-world object.

In this way, the disclosed techniques improve the overall experience ofthe user in using the electronic device and reduces the overall amountof system resources needed to accomplish a task.

Networked Computing Environment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system 100 forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network.The messaging system 100 includes multiple instances of a client device102, each of which hosts a number of applications, including a messagingclient 104 and other external applications 109 (e.g., third-partyapplications). Each messaging client 104 is communicatively coupled toother instances of the messaging client 104 (e.g., hosted on respectiveother client devices 102), a messaging server system 108, and externalapp(s) servers 110 via a network 112 (e.g., the Internet). A messagingclient 104 can also communicate with locally hosted third-partyapplications (also referred to as “external applications” and “externalapps”) 109 using Application Program Interfaces (APIs).

In some examples, the client device 102 can include AR glasses or an ARheadset in which virtual content is displayed within lenses of theglasses while a user views a real-world environment through the lenses.For example, an image can be presented on a transparent display thatallows a user to simultaneously view content presented on the displayand real-world objects.

A messaging client 104 (sometimes referred to as a client application)is able to communicate and exchange data with other messaging clients104 and with the messaging server system 108 via the network 112. Thedata exchanged between messaging clients 104, and between a messagingclient 104 and the messaging server system 108, includes functions(e.g., commands to invoke functions) as well as payload data (e.g.,text, audio, video or other multimedia data).

The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality viathe network 112 to a particular messaging client 104. While certainfunctions of the messaging system 100 are described herein as beingperformed by either a messaging client 104 or by the messaging serversystem 108, the location of certain functionality either within themessaging client 104 or the messaging server system 108 may be a designchoice. For example, it may be technically preferable to initiallydeploy certain technology and functionality within the messaging serversystem 108, but to later migrate this technology and functionality tothe messaging client 104 where a client device 102 has sufficientprocessing capacity.

The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operationsthat are provided to the messaging client 104. Such operations includetransmitting data to, receiving data from, and processing data generatedby the messaging client 104. This data may include message content,client device information, geolocation information, media augmentationand overlays, message content persistence conditions, social networkinformation, and live event information, as examples. Data exchangeswithin the messaging system 100 are invoked and controlled throughfunctions available via user interfaces of the messaging client 104.

Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, an APIserver 116 is coupled to, and provides a programmatic interface to,application servers 114. The application servers 114 are communicativelycoupled to a database server 120, which facilitates access to a database126 that stores data associated with messages processed by theapplication servers 114. Similarly, a web server 128 is coupled to theapplication servers 114 and provides web-based interfaces to theapplication servers 114. To this end, the web server 128 processesincoming network requests over the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)and several other related protocols.

The API server 116 receives and transmits message data (e.g., commandsand message payloads) between the client device 102 and the applicationservers 114. Specifically, the API server 116 provides a set ofinterfaces (e.g., routines and protocols) that can be called or queriedby the messaging client 104 in order to invoke functionality of theapplication servers 114. The API server 116 exposes various functionssupported by the application servers 114, including accountregistration; login functionality; the sending of messages, via theapplication servers 114, from a particular messaging client 104 toanother messaging client 104; the sending of media files (e.g., imagesor video) from a messaging client 104 to a messaging server 118, and forpossible access by another messaging client 104; the settings of acollection of media data (e.g., story); the retrieval of a list offriends of a user of a client device 102; the retrieval of suchcollections, the retrieval of messages and content; the addition anddeletion of entities (e.g., friends) to an entity graph (e.g., a socialgraph); the location of friends within a social graph; and opening anapplication event (e.g., relating to the messaging client 104).

The application servers 114 host a number of server applications andsubsystems, including, for example, a messaging server 118, an imageprocessing server 122, and a social network server 124. The messagingserver 118 implements a number of message processing technologies andfunctions, particularly related to the aggregation and other processingof content (e.g., textual and multimedia content) included in messagesreceived from multiple instances of the messaging client 104. As will bedescribed in further detail, the text and media content from multiplesources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g., calledstories or galleries). These collections are then made available to themessaging client 104. Other processor- and memory-intensive processingof data may also be performed server-side by the messaging server 118,in view of the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application servers 114 also include an image processing server 122that is dedicated to performing various image processing operations,typically with respect to images or videos within the payload of amessage sent from or received at the messaging server 118.

Image processing server 122 is used to implement scan functionality ofthe augmentation system 208 (shown in FIG. 2 ). Scan functionalityincludes activating and providing one or more AR experiences on a clientdevice 102 when an image is captured by the client device 102.Specifically, the messaging client 104 on the client device 102 can beused to activate a camera. The camera displays one or more real-timeimages or a video to a user along with one or more icons or identifiersof one or more AR experiences. The user can select a given one of theidentifiers to launch the corresponding AR experience or perform adesired image modification (e.g., launching an AR experience, asdiscussed in connection with FIGS. 6-10 below).

The social network server 124 supports various social networkingfunctions and services and makes these functions and services availableto the messaging server 118. To this end, the social network server 124maintains and accesses an entity graph 308 (as shown in FIG. 3 ) withinthe database 126. Examples of functions and services supported by thesocial network server 124 include the identification of other users ofthe messaging system 100 with which a particular user has relationshipsor is “following,” and also the identification of other entities andinterests of a particular user.

Returning to the messaging client 104, features and functions of anexternal resource (e.g., a third-party application 109 or applet) aremade available to a user via an interface of the messaging client 104.The messaging client 104 receives a user selection of an option tolaunch or access features of an external resource (e.g., a third-partyresource), such as external apps 109. The external resource may be athird-party application (external apps 109) installed on the clientdevice 102 (e.g., a “native app”), or a small-scale version of thethird-party application (e.g., an “applet”) that is hosted on the clientdevice 102 or remote of the client device 102 (e.g., on externalresource or app(s) servers 110). The small-scale version of thethird-party application includes a subset of features and functions ofthe third-party application (e.g., the full-scale, native version of thethird-party standalone application) and is implemented using amarkup-language document. In one example, the small-scale version of thethird-party application (e.g., an “applet”) is a web-based,markup-language version of the third-party application and is embeddedin the messaging client 104. In addition to using markup-languagedocuments (e.g., a .*ml file), an applet may incorporate a scriptinglanguage (e.g., a .*js file or a .json file) and a style sheet (e.g., a.*ss file).

In response to receiving a user selection of the option to launch oraccess features of the external resource (e.g., external app 109), themessaging client 104 determines whether the selected external resourceis a web-based external resource or a locally installed externalapplication. In some cases, external applications 109 that are locallyinstalled on the client device 102 can be launched independently of, andseparately from, the messaging client 104, such as by selecting an icon,corresponding to the external application 109, or a home screen of theclient device 102. Small-scale versions of such external applicationscan be launched or accessed via the messaging client 104 and, in someexamples, no or limited portions of the small-scale external applicationcan be accessed outside of the messaging client 104. The small-scaleexternal application can be launched by the messaging client 104receiving, from an external app(s) server 110, a markup-languagedocument associated with the small-scale external application andprocessing such a document.

In response to determining that the external resource is a locallyinstalled external application 109, the messaging client 104 instructsthe client device 102 to launch the external application 109 byexecuting locally-stored code corresponding to the external application109. In response to determining that the external resource is aweb-based resource, the messaging client 104 communicates with theexternal app(s) servers 110 to obtain a markup-language documentcorresponding to the selected resource. The messaging client 104 thenprocesses the obtained markup-language document to present the web-basedexternal resource within a user interface of the messaging client 104.

The messaging client 104 can notify a user of the client device 102, orother users related to such a user (e.g., “friends”), of activity takingplace in one or more external resources. For example, the messagingclient 104 can provide participants in a conversation (e.g., a chatsession) in the messaging client 104 with notifications relating to thecurrent or recent use of an external resource by one or more members ofa group of users. One or more users can be invited to join in an activeexternal resource or to launch a recently used, but currently inactive(in the group of friends), external resource. The external resource canprovide participants in a conversation, each using a respectivemessaging client, messaging clients 104, with the ability to share anitem, status, state, or location in an external resource with one ormore members of a group of users into a chat session. The shared itemmay be an interactive chat card with which members of the chat caninteract, for example, to launch the corresponding external resource,view specific information within the external resource, or take themember of the chat to a specific location or state within the externalresource. Within a given external resource, response messages can besent to users on the messaging client 104. The external resource canselectively include different media items in the responses, based on acurrent context of the external resource.

The messaging client 104 can present a list of the available externalresources (e.g., third-party, external applications 109, or applets) toa user to launch or access a given external resource. This list can bepresented in a context-sensitive menu. For example, the iconsrepresenting different ones of the external applications 109 (orapplets) can vary based on how the menu is launched by the user (e.g.,from a conversation interface or from a non-conversation interface).

System Architecture

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating further details regarding themessaging system 100, according to some examples. Specifically, themessaging system 100 is shown to comprise the messaging client 104 andthe application servers 114. The messaging system 100 embodies a numberof subsystems, which are supported on the client side by the messagingclient 104, and on the sever side by the application servers 114. Thesesubsystems include, for example, an ephemeral timer system 202, acollection management system 204, an augmentation system 208, a mapsystem 210, a game system 212, an external resource system 220, and apre-generated virtual experience system 224.

The ephemeral timer system 202 is responsible for enforcing thetemporary or time-limited access to content by the messaging client 104and the messaging server 118. The ephemeral timer system 202incorporates a number of timers that, based on duration and displayparameters associated with a message, or collection of messages (e.g., astory), selectively enable access (e.g., for presentation and display)to messages and associated content via the messaging client 104. Furtherdetails regarding the operation of the ephemeral timer system 202 areprovided below.

The collection management system 204 is responsible for managing sets orcollections of media (e.g., collections of text, image video, and audiodata). A collection of content (e.g., messages, including images, video,text, and audio) may be organized into an “event gallery” or an “eventstory.” Such a collection may be made available for a specified timeperiod, such as the duration of an event to which the content relates.For example, content relating to a music concert may be made availableas a “story” for the duration of that music concert. The collectionmanagement system 204 may also be responsible for publishing an iconthat provides notification of the existence of a particular collectionto the user interface of the messaging client 104.

The collection management system 204 furthermore includes a curationinterface 206 that allows a collection manager to manage and curate aparticular collection of content. For example, the curation interface206 enables an event organizer to curate a collection of contentrelating to a specific event (e.g., delete inappropriate content orredundant messages). Additionally, the collection management system 204employs machine vision (or image recognition technology) and contentrules to automatically curate a content collection. In certain examples,compensation may be paid to a user for the inclusion of user-generatedcontent into a collection. In such cases, the collection managementsystem 204 operates to automatically make payments to such users for theuse of their content.

The augmentation system 208 provides various functions that enable auser to augment (e.g., annotate or otherwise modify or edit) mediacontent associated with a message. For example, the augmentation system208 provides functions related to the generation and publishing of mediaoverlays for messages processed by the messaging system 100. Theaugmentation system 208 operatively supplies a media overlay oraugmentation (e.g., an image filter) to the messaging client 104 basedon a geolocation of the client device 102. In another example, theaugmentation system 208 operatively supplies a media overlay to themessaging client 104 based on other information, such as social networkinformation of the user of the client device 102 of FIG. 1 . A mediaoverlay may include audio and visual content and visual effects.Examples of audio and visual content include pictures, texts, logos,animations, and sound effects. An example of a visual effect includescolor overlaying. The audio and visual content or the visual effects canbe applied to a media content item (e.g., a photo) at the client device102. For example, the media overlay may include text, a graphicalelement, or image that can be overlaid on top of a photograph taken bythe client device 102. In another example, the media overlay includes anidentification of a location overlay (e.g., Venice beach), a name of alive event, or a name of a merchant overlay (e.g., Beach Coffee House).In another example, the augmentation system 208 uses the geolocation ofthe client device 102 to identify a media overlay that includes the nameof a merchant at the geolocation of the client device 102. The mediaoverlay may include other indicia associated with the merchant. Themedia overlays may be stored in the database 126 of FIG. 1 and accessedthrough the database server 120 of FIG. 1 .

In some examples, the augmentation system 208 provides a user-basedpublication platform that enables users to select a geolocation on a mapand upload content associated with the selected geolocation. The usermay also specify circumstances under which a particular media overlayshould be offered to other users. The augmentation system 208 generatesa media overlay that includes the uploaded content and associates theuploaded content with the selected geolocation.

In other examples, the augmentation system 208 provides a merchant-basedpublication platform that enables merchants to select a particular mediaoverlay associated with a geolocation via a bidding process. Forexample, the augmentation system 208 associates the media overlay of thehighest bidding merchant with a corresponding geolocation for apredefined amount of time. The augmentation system 208 communicates withthe image processing server 122 to obtain AR experiences and presentsidentifiers of such experiences in one or more user interfaces (e.g., asicons over a real-time image or video or as thumbnails or icons ininterfaces dedicated for presented identifiers of AR experiences). Oncean AR experience is selected, one or more images, videos, or ARgraphical elements are retrieved and presented as an overlay on top ofthe images or video captured by the client device 102. In some cases,the camera is switched to a front-facing view (e.g., the front-facingcamera of the client device 102 is activated in response to activationof a particular AR experience) and the images from the front-facingcamera of the client device 102 start being displayed on the clientdevice 102 instead of the rear-facing camera of the client device 102.The one or more images, videos, or AR graphical elements are retrievedand presented as an overlay on top of the images that are captured anddisplayed by the front-facing camera of the client device 102.

In other examples, the augmentation system 208 is able to communicateand exchange data with another augmentation system 208 on another clientdevice 102 and with the server via the network 112 of FIG. 1 . The dataexchanged can include a session identifier that identifies the shared ARsession, a transformation between a first client device 102 and a secondclient device 102 (e.g., a plurality of client devices 102 includes thefirst and second devices) that is used to align the shared AR session toa common point of origin, a common coordinate frame, and functions(e.g., commands to invoke functions), as well as other payload data(e.g., text, audio, video or other multimedia data).

The augmentation system 208 sends the transformation to the secondclient device 102 so that the second client device 102 can adjust the ARcoordinate system based on the transformation. In this way, the firstand second client devices 102 synch up their coordinate systems andframes for displaying content in the AR session. Specifically, theaugmentation system 208 computes the point of origin of the secondclient device 102 in the coordinate system of the first client device102. The augmentation system 208 can then determine an offset in thecoordinate system of the second client device 102 based on the positionof the point of origin from the perspective of the second client device102 in the coordinate system of the second client device 102. Thisoffset is used to generate the transformation so that the second clientdevice 102 generates AR content according to a common coordinate systemor frame as the first client device 102.

The augmentation system 208 can communicate with the client device 102to establish individual or shared AR sessions. The augmentation system208 can also be coupled to the messaging server 118 to establish anelectronic group communication session (e.g., group chat, instantmessaging) for the client devices 102 in a shared AR session. Theelectronic group communication session can be associated with a sessionidentifier provided by the client devices 102 to gain access to theelectronic group communication session and to the shared AR session. Inone example, the client devices 102 first gain access to the electronicgroup communication session and then obtain the session identifier inthe electronic group communication session that allows the clientdevices 102 to access to the shared AR session. In some examples, theclient devices 102 are able to access the shared AR session without aidor communication with the augmentation system 208 in the applicationservers 114.

The map system 210 provides various geographic location functions andsupports the presentation of map-based media content and messages by themessaging client 104. For example, the map system 210 enables thedisplay of user icons or avatars (e.g., stored in profile data 316) on amap to indicate a current or past location of “friends” of a user, aswell as media content (e.g., collections of messages includingphotographs and videos) generated by such friends, within the context ofa map. For example, a message posted by a user to the messaging system100 from a specific geographic location may be displayed within thecontext of a map at that particular location to “friends” of a specificuser on a map interface of the messaging client 104. A user canfurthermore share his or her location and status information (e.g.,using an appropriate status avatar) with other users of the messagingsystem 100 via the messaging client 104, with this location and statusinformation being similarly displayed within the context of a mapinterface of the messaging client 104 to selected users.

The game system 212 provides various gaming functions within the contextof the messaging client 104. The messaging client 104 provides a gameinterface providing a list of available games (e.g., web-based games orweb-based applications) that can be launched by a user within thecontext of the messaging client 104 and played with other users of themessaging system 100. The messaging system 100 further enables aparticular user to invite other users to participate in the play of aspecific game by issuing invitations to such other users from themessaging client 104. The messaging client 104 also supports both voiceand text messaging (e.g., chats) within the context of gameplay,provides a leaderboard for the games, and supports the provision ofin-game rewards (e.g., coins and items).

The external resource system 220 provides an interface for the messagingclient 104 to communicate with external app(s) servers 110 of FIG. 1 tolaunch or access external resources. Each external resource (apps)server 110 hosts, for example, a markup language (e.g., HTML5) basedapplication or small-scale version of an external application (e.g.,game, utility, payment, or ride-sharing application that is external tothe messaging client 104). The messaging client 104 may launch aweb-based resource (e.g., application) by accessing the HTML5 file fromthe external resource (apps) servers 110 associated with the web-basedresource. In certain examples, applications hosted by external resourceservers 110 are programmed in JavaScript leveraging a SoftwareDevelopment Kit (SDK) provided by the messaging server 118 of FIG. 1 .The SDK includes APIs with functions that can be called or invoked bythe web-based application. In certain examples, the messaging server 118includes a JavaScript library that provides a given third-party resourceaccess to certain user data of the messaging client 104. HTML5 is usedas an example technology for programming games, but applications andresources programmed based on other technologies can be used.

In order to integrate the functions of the SDK into the web-basedresource, the SDK is downloaded by an external resource (apps) server110 from the messaging server 118 or is otherwise received by theexternal resource (apps) server 110. Once downloaded or received, theSDK is included as part of the application code of a web-based externalresource. The code of the web-based resource can then call or invokecertain functions of the SDK to integrate features of the messagingclient 104 into the web-based resource.

The SDK stored on the messaging server 118 effectively provides thebridge between an external resource (e.g., third-party or externalapplications 109 or applets and the messaging client 104). This providesthe user with a seamless experience of communicating with other users onthe messaging client 104, while also preserving the look and feel of themessaging client 104. To bridge communications between an externalresource and a messaging client 104, in certain examples, the SDKfacilitates communication between external resource servers 110 and themessaging client 104. In certain examples, a Web ViewJavaScriptBridgerunning on a client device 102 establishes two one-way communicationchannels between an external resource and the messaging client 104.Messages are sent between the external resource and the messaging client104 via these communication channels asynchronously. Each SDK functioninvocation is sent as a message and callback. Each SDK function isimplemented by constructing a unique callback identifier and sending amessage with that callback identifier.

By using the SDK, not all information from the messaging client 104 isshared with external resource servers 110. The SDK limits whichinformation is shared based on the needs of the external resource. Incertain examples, each external resource server 110 provides an HTML5file corresponding to the web-based external resource to the messagingserver 118. The messaging server 118 can add a visual representation(such as a box art or other graphic) of the web-based external resourcein the messaging client 104. Once the user selects the visualrepresentation or instructs the messaging client 104 through a graphicaluser interface (GUI) of the messaging client 104 to access features ofthe web-based external resource, the messaging client 104 obtains theHTML5 file and instantiates the resources necessary to access thefeatures of the web-based external resource.

The messaging client 104 presents a GUI (e.g., a landing page or titlescreen) for an external resource. During, before, or after presentingthe landing page or title screen, the messaging client 104 determineswhether the launched external resource has been previously authorized toaccess user data of the messaging client 104. In response to determiningthat the launched external resource has been previously authorized toaccess user data of the messaging client 104, the messaging client 104presents another GUI of the external resource that includes functionsand features of the external resource. In response to determining thatthe launched external resource has not been previously authorized toaccess user data of the messaging client 104, after a threshold periodof time (e.g., 3 seconds) of displaying the landing page or title screenof the external resource, the messaging client 104 slides up (e.g.,animates a menu as surfacing from a bottom of the screen to a middle ofor other portion of the screen) a menu for authorizing the externalresource to access the user data. The menu identifies the type of userdata that the external resource will be authorized to use. In responseto receiving a user selection of an accept option, the messaging client104 adds the external resource to a list of authorized externalresources and allows the external resource to access user data from themessaging client 104. In some examples, the external resource isauthorized by the messaging client 104 to access the user data inaccordance with an OAuth 2 framework.

The messaging client 104 controls the type of user data that is sharedwith external resources based on the type of external resource beingauthorized. For example, external resources that include full-scaleexternal applications (e.g., a third-party or external application 109)are provided with access to a first type of user data (e.g., onlytwo-dimensional (2D) avatars of users with or without different avatarcharacteristics). As another example, external resources that includesmall-scale versions of external applications (e.g., web-based versionsof third-party applications) are provided with access to a second typeof user data (e.g., payment information, 2D avatars of users, 3D avatarsof users, and avatars with various avatar characteristics). Avatarcharacteristics include different ways to customize a look and feel ofan avatar, such as different poses, facial features, clothing, and soforth.

The pre-generated virtual experience system 224 allows a user togenerate a virtual experience (AR or VR) based on images captured of afirst location that depict one or more real-world objects at the firstlocation. For example, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224can activate a camera and capture a set of images depicting a real-worldenvironment at the first location, such as a room in a home. Thepre-generated virtual experience system 224 processes the set of imagesto generate a 3D model of the real-world world environment at the firstlocation. The 3D model can then be used to generate the virtualexperience that can be launched at a second location to see howreal-world objects at the second location look within the virtualexperience corresponding to the first location. In some cases, as partof generating the 3D model, the pre-generated virtual experience system224 collects or receives data collected from at least one of a lidarsensor or Neural radiance fields (NeRF) at the first location. Thepre-generated virtual experience system 224 can apply a neural networkto generate the 3D model.

In some examples, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224 canallow a user to edit the virtual experience such as re-arranging virtualobjects depicted in the virtual experience, removing one or more virtualobjects, adding one or more virtual objects, and/or modifying propertiesof the virtual objects. Specifically, the pre-generated virtualexperience system 224 can receive input to launch a particular virtualexperience that corresponds to a given location. The pre-generatedvirtual experience system 224 presents the virtual experience andreceives input modifying one or more virtual objects depicted as part ofthe virtual experience.

In some examples, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224 cansimilarly generate additional virtual experiences corresponding to otherlocations, such as a third location to generate a second virtualexperience. The pre-generated virtual experience system 224 stores alist of previously captured real-world environments that includes thefirst and second virtual experiences. The pre-generated virtualexperience system 224 can display, by the messaging application, thelist of previously captured real-world environments including the firstand second virtual experiences on the client device 102.

For example, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224 selects, bya messaging application, a virtual experience that represents apreviously captured real-world environment at a first location. In someexamples, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224 receives inputthat selects the first virtual experience from the displayed list ofpreviously captured real-world environments. The pre-generated virtualexperience system 224 accesses an image representing a new real-worldenvironment at a second location, the image depicting a plurality ofreal-world objects. The pre-generated virtual experience system 224receives input that selects a first real-world object from the pluralityof real-world objects depicted in the image. In some cases, thepre-generated virtual experience system 224 automatically selects thefirst real-world object based on attributes of the first real-worldobject. The pre-generated virtual experience system 224 modifies theimage, accessed at the second location, based on the virtual experienceto depict the previously captured real-world environment with the firstreal-world object.

In some examples, the virtual experience includes an AR experience. Insuch cases, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224 identifies asubset of the real-world objects depicted in the image that excludes theselected first real-world object. The pre-generated virtual experiencesystem 224 overlays the AR experience on top of the subset of thereal-world objects that exclude the selected first real-world object.The pre-generated virtual experience system 224 can remove the subset ofthe real-world objects from the image to keep only the first real-worldobject in the image, such as by deleting pixels corresponding to anyobject that is not the first real-world object. While the presentdisclosure discusses maintaining a single real-world object from aplurality of real-world objects in the view of the virtual experience,any number of real-world objects can be maintained. For example, asubset of real-world objects can collectively represent a living roomset which includes multiple real-world objects. In such cases, all ofthe objects that are not part of the living room set are deleted oroverlaid by the virtual experience and the living room set remainsdepicted in the captured image or video.

In some examples, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224captures the image as part of a real-time feed received from a camera ofclient device and detecting movement of the camera of the client device102. In response, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224adjusts a relative position of the first real-world object within a viewof the previously captured real-world environment depicted in themodified image as the movement of the camera is detected. Specifically,the pre-generated virtual experience system 224 adjusts the relativeposition by rotating the view of the previously captured real-worldenvironment while the first real-world object remains stationary.

In some examples, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224generates the virtual experience as a virtual reality experience. Insuch cases, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224 generates avirtual representation of the first real-world object and adds thevirtual representation of the first real-world object to the VRexperience.

In some examples, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224generates the virtual experience and/or launches the virtual experienceusing estimated segmentations of one or more objects depicted in imagescaptured at specific locations. The pre-generated virtual experiencesystem 224 can train a neural network to segment real-world items togenerate the virtual experience and/or to remove and/or keep specificreal-world objects depicted in an image of a real-world environment of aparticular location. The pre-generated virtual experience system 224trains the neural network by performing operations including receivingtraining data comprising a plurality of training images and ground truthreal-world item segmentations for each of the plurality of trainingimages, each of the plurality of training images depicting a differenttype of real-world environment. The operations include applying theneural network to a first training image of the plurality of trainingimages to estimate segmentations of items depicted in the first trainingimage and computing a deviation between the estimated segmentations andthe ground truth real-segmentations associated with the first trainingimage. The neural network parameters are then updated based on thecomputed deviation and additional training data is processed to continueupdating the parameters until the deviation satisfies a criterion.

In some examples, the pre-generated virtual experience system 224presents the modified image on a first client device 102 of a firstuser, the virtual experience. The pre-generated virtual experiencesystem 224 detects a second user within a threshold proximity to thefirst user, the second user being a friend of the first user on themessaging application. The pre-generated virtual experience system 224provides an option to a second client device 102 of the second user tojoin the first user in the virtual experience. The pre-generated virtualexperience system 224 can receive input from the second client device102 that modifies one or more virtual elements presented in the modifiedimage and applies one or more further modifications to the image basedon the input received from the second client device 102, such that boththe first and second users can perceive the modifications made by eitherthe first, or second, client device 102. In some examples, the inputreceived from the second client device 102 includes virtually drawing onreal-world or virtual walls depicted in the modified image.

The pre-generated virtual experience system 224 is a component that canbe accessed by an AR/VR application implemented on the client device102. The AR/VR application uses an RGB camera to capture an image of aroom in a home. The AR/VR application applies various trained machinelearning techniques on the captured image or video of the real-worldenvironment to segment items of the real-world environment. The AR/VRapplication includes a depth sensor to generate depth data. For example,the AR/VR application can maintain a specific real-world object (e.g., apiece of furniture), such as an AR chair or sofa, depicted in the imageor video that is captured by the client device 102 to a virtualexperience (e.g., an AR experience) corresponding to a differentreal-world environment that was previously captured at a differentlocation. In some implementations, the AR/VR application continuouslycaptures images of the real-world environment in real time, orperiodically, to continuously, or periodically, update the locations ofthe real-world object within a view of the virtual experience. Thisallows the user to move around in the real world and see how thereal-world objects looks in different areas of the virtual experience inreal time.

An illustrative implementation of the pre-generated virtual experiencesystem 224 is shown and described in connection with FIG. 5 below.

Data Architecture

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating data structures 300, whichmay be stored in the database 126 of the messaging server system 108 ofFIG. 1 , according to certain examples. While the content of thedatabase 126 is shown to comprise a number of tables, it will beappreciated that the data could be stored in other types of datastructures (e.g., as an object-oriented database).

The database 126 includes message data stored within a message table302. This message data includes, for any particular one message, atleast message sender data, message recipient (or receiver) data, and apayload. Further details regarding information that may be included in amessage, and included within the message data stored in the messagetable 302, are described below with reference to FIG. 4 .

An entity table 306 stores entity data and is linked (e.g.,referentially) to an entity graph 308 and profile data 316. Entities forwhich records are maintained within the entity table 306 may includeindividuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects, places, events,and so forth. Regardless of entity type, any entity regarding which themessaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognized entity. Eachentity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as an entity typeidentifier (not shown).

The entity graph 308 stores information regarding relationships andassociations between entities. Such relationships may be social,professional (e.g., work at a common corporation or organization),interest-based, or activity-based, merely for example.

The profile data 316 stores multiple types of profile data about aparticular entity. The profile data 316 may be selectively used andpresented to other users of the messaging system 100, based on privacysettings specified by a particular entity. Where the entity is anindividual, the profile data 316 includes, for example, a user name,telephone number, address, and settings (e.g., notification and privacysettings), as well as a user-selected avatar representation (orcollection of such avatar representations). A particular user may thenselectively include one or more of these avatar representations withinthe content of messages communicated via the messaging system 100, andon map interfaces displayed by messaging clients 104 of FIG. 1 to otherusers. The collection of avatar representations may include “statusavatars,” which present a graphical representation of a status oractivity that the user may select to communicate at a particular time.

Where the entity is a group, the profile data 316 for the group maysimilarly include one or more avatar representations associated with thegroup, in addition to the group name, members, and various settings(e.g., notifications) for the relevant group.

The database 126 also stores augmentation data, such as overlays orfilters, in an augmentation table 310. The augmentation data isassociated with and applied to videos (for which data is stored in avideo table 304) and images (for which data is stored in an image table312).

The database 126 can also store data pertaining to individual and sharedAR sessions. This data can include data communicated between an ARsession client controller of a first client device 102 and another ARsession client controller of a second client device 102, and datacommunicated between the AR session client controller and theaugmentation system 208. Data can include data used to establish thecommon coordinate frame of the shared AR scene, the transformationbetween the devices, the session identifier, images depicting a body,skeletal joint positions, wrist joint positions, feet, and so forth.

Filters, in one example, are overlays that are displayed as overlaid onan image or video during presentation to a recipient user. Filters maybe of various types, including user-selected filters from a set offilters presented to a sending user by the messaging client 104 when thesending user is composing a message. Other types of filters includegeolocation filters (also known as geo-filters), which may be presentedto a sending user based on geographic location. For example, geolocationfilters specific to a neighborhood or special location may be presentedwithin a user interface by the messaging client 104, based ongeolocation information determined by a Global Positioning System (GPS)unit of the client device 102.

Another type of filter is a data filter, which may be selectivelypresented to a sending user by the messaging client 104, based on otherinputs or information gathered by the client device 102 during themessage creation process. Examples of data filters include currenttemperature at a specific location, a current speed at which a sendinguser is traveling, battery life for a client device 102, or the currenttime.

Other augmentation data that may be stored within the image table 312includes AR content items (e.g., corresponding to applying ARexperiences). AR content item or AR item may be a real-time specialeffect and sound that may be added to an image or a video.

As described above, augmentation data includes AR content items,overlays, image transformations, AR images, and similar terms that referto modifications that may be applied to image data (e.g., videos orimages). This includes real-time modifications, which modify an image asit is captured using device sensors (e.g., one or multiple cameras) of aclient device 102 and then displayed on a screen of the client device102 with the modifications. This also includes modifications to storedcontent, such as video clips in a gallery that may be modified. Forexample, in a client device 102 with access to multiple AR contentitems, a user can use a single video clip with multiple AR content itemsto see how the different AR content items will modify the stored clip.For example, multiple AR content items that apply different pseudorandommovement models can be applied to the same content by selectingdifferent AR content items for the content. Similarly, real-time videocapture may be used with an illustrated modification to show how videoimages currently being captured by sensors of a client device 102 wouldmodify the captured data. Such data may simply be displayed on thescreen and not stored in memory, or the content captured by the devicesensors may be recorded and stored in memory with or without themodifications (or both). In some systems, a preview feature can show howdifferent AR content items will look within different windows in adisplay at the same time. This can, for example, enable multiple windowswith different pseudorandom animations to be viewed on a display at thesame time.

Data and various systems using AR content items or other such transformsystems to modify content using this data can thus involve detection ofobjects (e.g., faces, hands, bodies, cats, dogs, surfaces, objects,etc.), tracking of such objects as they leave, enter, and move aroundthe field of view in video frames, and the modification ortransformation of such objects as they are tracked. In various examples,different methods for achieving such transformations may be used. Someexamples may involve generating a 3D mesh model of the object or objectsand using transformations and animated textures of the model within thevideo to achieve the transformation. In other examples, tracking ofpoints on an object may be used to place an image or texture (which maybe 2D or 3D) at the tracked position. In still further examples, neuralnetwork analysis of video frames may be used to place images, models, ortextures in content (e.g., images or frames of video). AR content itemsthus refer both to the images, models, and textures used to createtransformations in content, as well as to additional modeling andanalysis information needed to achieve such transformations with objectdetection, tracking, and placement.

Real-time video processing can be performed with any kind of video data(e.g., video streams, video files, etc.) saved in a memory of acomputerized system of any kind. For example, a user can load videofiles and save them in a memory of a device or can generate a videostream using sensors of the device. Additionally, any objects can beprocessed using a computer animation model, such as a human's face andparts of a human body, animals, or non-living things such as chairs,cars, or other objects.

In some examples, when a particular modification is selected along withcontent to be transformed, elements to be transformed are identified bythe computing device and then detected and tracked if they are presentin the frames of the video. The elements of the object are modifiedaccording to the request for modification, thus transforming the framesof the video stream. Transformation of frames of a video stream can beperformed by different methods for different kinds of transformation.For example, for transformations of frames mostly referring to changingforms of an object's elements, characteristic points for each element ofan object are calculated (e.g., using an Active Shape Model (ASM) orother known methods). Then, a mesh based on the characteristic points isgenerated for each of the at least one elements of the object. This meshis used in the following stage of tracking the elements of the object inthe video stream. In the process of tracking, the mentioned mesh foreach element is aligned with a position of each element. Then,additional points are generated on the mesh. A set of first points isgenerated for each element based on a request for modification, and aset of second points is generated for each element based on the set offirst points and the request for modification. Then, the frames of thevideo stream can be transformed by modifying the elements of the objecton the basis of the sets of first and second points and the mesh. Insuch a method, a background of the modified object can be changed ordistorted as well by tracking and modifying the background.

In some examples, transformations changing some areas of an object usingits elements can be performed by calculating characteristic points foreach element of an object and generating a mesh based on the calculatedcharacteristic points. Points are generated on the mesh and then variousareas based on the points are generated. The elements of the object arethen tracked by aligning the area for each element with a position foreach of the at least one elements, and properties of the areas can bemodified based on the request for modification, thus transforming theframes of the video stream. Depending on the specific request formodification, properties of the mentioned areas can be transformed indifferent ways. Such modifications may involve changing color of areas;removing at least some part of areas from the frames of the videostream; including one or more new objects into areas which are based ona request for modification; and modifying or distorting the elements ofan area or object. In various examples, any combination of suchmodifications or other similar modifications may be used. For certainmodels to be animated, some characteristic points can be selected ascontrol points to be used in determining the entire state-space ofoptions for the model animation.

In some examples of a computer animation model, to transform image datausing face detection, the face is detected on an image with use of aspecific face detection algorithm (e.g., Viola-Jones). Then, an ASMalgorithm is applied to the face region of an image to detect facialfeature reference points.

Other methods and algorithms suitable for face detection can be used.For example, in some examples, features are located using a landmark,which represents a distinguishable point present in most of the imagesunder consideration. For facial landmarks, for example, the location ofthe left eye pupil may be used. If an initial landmark is notidentifiable (e.g., if a person has an eyepatch), secondary landmarksmay be used. Such landmark identification procedures may be used for anysuch objects. In some examples, a set of landmarks forms a shape. Shapescan be represented as vectors using the coordinates of the points in theshape. One shape is aligned to another with a similarity transform(allowing translation, scaling, and rotation) that minimizes the averageEuclidean distance between shape points. The mean shape is the mean ofthe aligned training shapes.

In some examples, a search is started for landmarks from the mean shapealigned to the position and size of the face determined by a global facedetector. Such a search then repeats the steps of suggesting a tentativeshape by adjusting the locations of shape points by template matching ofthe image texture around each point and then conforming the tentativeshape to a global shape model until convergence occurs. In some systems,individual template matches are unreliable, and the shape model poolsthe results of the weak template matches to form a stronger overallclassifier. The entire search is repeated at each level in an imagepyramid, from coarse to fine resolution.

A transformation system can capture an image or video stream on a clientdevice (e.g., the client device 102) and perform complex imagemanipulations locally on the client device 102 while maintaining asuitable user experience, computation time, and power consumption. Thecomplex image manipulations may include size and shape changes, emotiontransfers (e.g., changing a face from a frown to a smile), statetransfers (e.g., aging a subject, reducing apparent age, changinggender), style transfers, graphical element applications, and any othersuitable image or video manipulations implemented by a convolutionalneural network that has been configured to execute efficiently on theclient device 102.

In some examples, a computer animation model to transform image data canbe used by a system where a user may capture an image or video stream ofthe user (e.g., a selfie), using a client device 102, having a neuralnetwork operating as part of a messaging client 104 operating on theclient device 102. The transformation system operating within themessaging client 104 determines the presence of a face within the imageor video stream and provides modification icons associated with acomputer animation model to transform image data, or the computeranimation model can be present as associated with an interface describedherein. The modification icons include changes that may be the basis formodifying the user's face within the image or video stream as part ofthe modification operation. Once a modification icon is selected, thetransformation system initiates a process to convert the image of theuser to reflect the selected modification icon (e.g., generate a smilingface on the user). A modified image or video stream may be presented ina graphical user interface displayed on the client device 102 as soon asthe image or video stream is captured, and a specified modification isselected. The transformation system may implement a complexconvolutional neural network on a portion of the image or video streamto generate and apply the selected modification. That is, the user maycapture the image or video stream and be presented with a modifiedresult in real-time or near real-time once a modification icon has beenselected. Further, the modification may be persistent while the videostream is being captured and the selected modification icon remainstoggled. Machine-taught neural networks may be used to enable suchmodifications.

The GUI, presenting the modification performed by the transformationsystem, may supply the user with additional interaction options. Suchoptions may be based on the interface used to initiate the contentcapture and selection of a particular computer animation model (e.g.,initiation from a content creator user interface). In various examples,a modification may be persistent after an initial selection of amodification icon. The user may toggle the modification on or off bytapping or otherwise selecting the face being modified by thetransformation system and store it for later viewing or browse to otherareas of the imaging application. Where multiple faces are modified bythe transformation system, the user may toggle the modification on oroff globally by tapping or selecting a single face modified anddisplayed within a GUI. In some examples, individual faces, among agroup of multiple faces, may be individually modified, or suchmodifications may be individually toggled by tapping, or selecting, theindividual face or a series of individual faces displayed within theGUI.

A story table 314 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a story or a gallery). The creation of a particularcollection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., each user forwhich a record is maintained in the entity table 306). A user may createa “personal story” in the form of a collection of content that has beencreated and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, the user interfaceof the messaging client 104 may include an icon that is user-selectableto enable a sending user to add specific content to his or her personalstory.

A collection may also constitute a “live story,” which is a collectionof content from multiple users that is created manually, automatically,or using a combination of manual and automatic techniques. For example,a “live story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted contentfrom various locations and events. Users whose client devices havelocation services enabled and are at a common location event at aparticular time may, for example, be presented with an option, via auser interface of the messaging client 104, to contribute content to aparticular live story. The live story may be identified to the user bythe messaging client 104, based on his or her location. The end resultis a “live story” told from a community perspective.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some examples, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus).

As mentioned above, the video table 304 stores video data that, in oneexample, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 302. Similarly, the image table 312 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe entity table 306. The entity table 306 may associate variousaugmentations from the augmentation table 310 with various images andvideos stored in the image table 312 and the video table 304.

The data structures 300 can also store training data for training one ormore machine learning techniques (models) to segment real-world objectsor items of real-world environment depicted in an image corresponding toa location (e.g., a room in a home). The training data can include aplurality of images and videos and their corresponding ground-truth roomsegmentations. The images and videos can include a mix of all sorts ofreal-world objects that can appear in different rooms in a home orhousehold. The one or more machine learning techniques can be trained toextract features of a received input image or video and establish arelationship between the extracted features and segmentations. Oncetrained, the machine learning technique can receive a new image or videoand can compute a segmentation of items depicted in the newly receivedimage or video.

Data Communications Architecture

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message 400,according to some examples, generated by a messaging client 104 of FIG.1 for communication to a further messaging client 104 or the messagingserver 118 of FIG. 1 . The content of a particular message 400 is usedto populate the message table 302 stored within the database 126 of FIG.1 , accessible by the messaging server 118. Similarly, the content of amessage 400 is stored in memory as “in-transit” or “in-flight” data ofthe client device 102 or the application servers 114 of FIG. 1 . Amessage 400 is shown to include the following example components:

-   -   message identifier 402: a unique identifier that identifies the        message 400.    -   message text payload 404: text, to be generated by a user via a        user interface of the client device 102, and that is included in        the message 400.    -   message image payload 406: image data, captured by a camera        component of a client device 102, or retrieved from a memory        component of a client device 102, and that is included in the        message 400. Image data for a sent or received message 400 may        be stored in the image table 312.    -   message video payload 408: video data, captured by a camera        component or retrieved from a memory component of the client        device 102, and that is included in the message 400. Video data        for a sent or received message 400 may be stored in the video        table 304.    -   message audio payload 410: audio data, captured by a microphone        or retrieved from a memory component of the client device 102,        and that is included in the message 400.    -   message augmentation data 412: augmentation data (e.g., filters,        stickers, or other annotations or enhancements) that represents        augmentations to be applied to message image payload 406,        message video payload 408, or message audio payload 410 of the        message 400. Augmentation data 412 for a sent or received        message 400 may be stored in the augmentation table 310.    -   message duration parameter 414: parameter value indicating, in        seconds, the amount of time for which content of the message        (e.g., the message image payload 406, message video payload 408,        message audio payload 410) is to be presented or made accessible        to a user via the messaging client 104.    -   message geolocation parameter 416: geolocation data (e.g.,        latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with the        content payload of the message. Multiple message geolocation        parameter 416 values may be included in the payload, each of        these parameter values being associated with respect to content        items included in the content (e.g., a specific image within the        message image payload 406, or a specific video in the message        video payload 408).    -   message story identifier 418: identifier values identifying one        or more content collections (e.g., “stories” identified in the        story table 314) with which a particular content item in the        message image payload 406 of the message 400 is associated. For        example, multiple images within the message image payload 406        may each be associated with multiple content collections using        identifier values.    -   message tag 420: each message 400 may be tagged with multiple        tags, each of which is indicative of the subject matter of        content included in the message payload. For example, where a        particular image included in the message image payload 406        depicts an animal (e.g., a lion), a tag value may be included        within the message tag 420 that is indicative of the relevant        animal. Tag values may be generated manually, based on user        input, or may be automatically generated using, for example,        image recognition.    -   message sender identifier 422: an identifier (e.g., a messaging        system identifier, email address, or device identifier)        indicative of a user of the client device 102 on which the        message 400 was generated and from which the message 400 was        sent.    -   message receiver identifier 424: an identifier (e.g., a        messaging system identifier, email address, or device        identifier) indicative of a user of the client device 102 to        which the message 400 is addressed.

The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of message 400 maybe pointers to locations in tables within which content data values arestored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 406 maybe a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table 312.Similarly, values within the message video payload 408 may point to datastored within a video table 304, values stored within the messageaugmentation data 412 may point to data stored in an augmentation table310, values stored within the message story identifier 418 may point todata stored in a story table 314, and values stored within the messagesender identifier 422 and the message receiver identifier 424 may pointto user records stored within an entity table 306.

Pre-Generated Virtual Experience System

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an example pre-generated virtualexperience system 224 of FIG. 2 , according to examples. Thepre-generated virtual experience system 224 includes a set of components510 that operate on a set of input data (e.g., a monocular image (orvideo)) depicting a real-world environment 501. The pre-generatedvirtual experience system 224 includes a virtual experience generationmodule 512, a new real-world environment module 514, a real-world objectselection module 516, an image modification module 518, and an imagedisplay module 520. All or some of the components of the pre-generatedvirtual experience system 224 can be implemented by a server, in whichcase, the monocular image depicting a real-world environment 501 isprovided to the server by the client device 102. In some cases, some orall of the components of the pre-generated virtual experience system 224can be implemented by the client device 102 of FIG. 1 or can bedistributed across a set of client devices 102 and one or more servers.

The virtual experience generation module 512 allows a user to generateone or more AR or VR experiences that represent or correspond todifferent real-world environments at different locations. For example,the virtual experience generation module 512 can receive input from auser that names a particular virtual experience, such as a living room,kitchen, bedroom, and so forth. Once the name is received, the virtualexperience generation module 512 activates a camera to begin capturingimages of the real-world environment at the first location. For example,as shown in FIG. 6 , a user interface 600 is presented on the clientdevice 102 in which a first real-world object 620 and a secondreal-world object 610 are depicted in one or more images.

The virtual experience generation module 512 can instruct the user towalk around the first location and turn to capture 360 degrees worth ofimages of the first real-world object 620 and the second real-worldobject 610. The virtual experience generation module 512 can instructthe user to focus the camera toward the ceiling and toward the ground.After a specified or sufficient quantity of images are capturedrepresenting multiple views of the real-world environment at the firstlocation, the virtual experience generation module 512 stops capturingimages and begins generating a 3D model of the real-world environment atthe first location in which the first real-world object 620 and thesecond real-world object 610 are added as virtual objects of an AR/VRexperience.

In some examples, together with capturing the images of the real-worldenvironment (including the first real-world object 620 and the secondreal-world object 610) at the first location, the virtual experiencegeneration module 512 can capture depth sensor information, such asLiDAR sensor data and/or NeRF information. The virtual experiencegeneration module 512 can also implement an object detection module tosegment one or more real-world objects (e.g., the first real-worldobject 620 and the second real-world object 610) depicted in the imagesof the real-world environment at the first location.

The object detection module can receive a monocular image (or video)depicting a real-world environment 501. This image or video can bereceived as part of a real-time video stream, a previously capturedvideo stream, or a new image captured by a camera of the client device102. The object detection module applies one or more machine learningtechniques to identify real-world physical objects that appear in themonocular image depicting a real-world environment 501. For example, theobject detection module can segment out individual objects in the imageand assign a label, or name, to the individual objects. Specifically,the object detection module can recognize a sofa as an individualobject, a television as another individual object, a light fixture asanother individual object, and so forth. Any type of object that canappear or be present in a particular real-world environment (e.g., aroom in a home or household) can be recognized and labeled by the objectdetection module.

Referring back to FIG. 5 , during training, the machine learningtechnique of the object detection module receives a given training image(e.g., a monocular image or video depicting a real-world environment,such as an image of a living room or bedroom) from training image datastored in data structures 300 of FIG. 3 . The machine learning technique(e.g., neural network or other machine learning model) is applied to thegiven training image. The machine learning technique extracts one ormore features from the given training image to estimate itemsegmentations of real-world environment items depicted in the image orvideo. For example, the machine learning technique obtains the giventraining image, depicting a real-world environment, and extractsfeatures from the image that correspond to the real-world objects thatappear in the real-world environment.

The machine learning technique obtains a known, or predetermined,ground-truth segmentation of the real-world items depicted in thereal-world environment from the training data. The machine learningtechnique compares (computes a deviation between) the estimatedsegmentations with the ground truth segmentations. Based on a differencethreshold of the comparison (or deviation), the machine learningtechnique updates one or more coefficients or parameters and obtains oneor more additional training images of a real-world environment. After aspecified number of epochs, or batches, of training images have beenprocessed and/or when a difference threshold, or deviation (computed asa function of a difference or deviation between the estimatedsegmentations and the ground-truth segmentations), reaches a specifiedvalue, the machine learning technique completes training and theparameters and coefficients of the machine learning technique are storedas a trained machine learning technique.

In an example, after training, the machine learning technique isimplemented as part of the object detection module of the virtualexperience generation module 512; and/or the new real-world environmentmodule 514 receives a monocular input image, depicting a real-worldenvironment 501 as a single RGB image from a client device 102, or as avideo of multiple images. The machine learning technique applies thetrained machine learning technique(s) to the received input image toextract one or more features, and to generate a prediction or estimationof segmentations of the real-world items or objects depicted in themonocular image.

The virtual experience generation module 512 collects information fromthe images, the object detection module, and/or the depth sensors togenerate a 3D model of the real-world environment corresponding to thefirst location. The virtual experience generation module 512 uses the 3Dmodel to generate a first AR or VR experience that corresponds to thefirst location. The first AR/VR experience enables the user to launchthe AR/VR experience at a new location and see and interact with thereal-world environment that corresponds to the first location (e.g.,previous location). The virtual experience generation module 512 storesthe first virtual experience as part of a list of previously capturedvirtual experiences.

In some examples, the virtual experience generation module 512 canreceive input from a user that names a second virtual experience, suchas a living room, kitchen, bedroom, and so forth. Once the name isreceived, the virtual experience generation module 512 activates acamera to begin capturing images of the real-world environment at athird location. The virtual experience generation module 512 caninstruct the user to walk around the third location and turn to capture360 degrees worth of images. The virtual experience generation module512 can instruct the user to focus the camera toward the ceiling andtoward the ground. After a specified, or sufficient, quantity of imagesare captured, representing multiple views of the real-world environmentat the third location, the virtual experience generation module 512stops capturing images and begins generating a 3D model of thereal-world environment at the third location.

In some examples, together with capturing the images of the real-worldenvironment at the third location, the virtual experience generationmodule 512 can capture depth sensor information, such as LiDAR sensordata and/or NeRF information. The virtual experience generation module512 can also implement an object detection module to segment one or morereal-world objects depicted in the images of the real-world environmentat the third location.

The virtual experience generation module 512 collects information fromthe images, the object detection module, and/or the depth sensors togenerate a 3D model of the real-world environment corresponding to thethird location. The virtual experience generation module 512 uses the 3Dmodel to generate a second AR or VR experience that corresponds to thethird location. The third AR/VR experience enables the user to launchthe AR/VR experience at a new location and see and interact with thereal-world environment that corresponds to the third location (e.g.,previous location). The virtual experience generation module 512 storesthe second virtual experience as part of a list of previously capturedvirtual experiences that includes the first virtual experience.

The virtual experience generation module 512 can receive input to accessor launch a given virtual experience. In response to receiving inputthat selects the first virtual experience 712, the virtual experiencegeneration module 512 launches the virtual experience and allows theuser to perform modifications to the virtual experience. For example,the user can add, remove, or change one or more virtual objects that areincluded as part of the given virtual experience.

The new real-world environment module 514 allows a user to enter a newreal-world environment, such as a furniture store that includes one ormore real-world objects (e.g., real-world furniture items). The newreal-world environment module 514 can receive input from the useractivating a camera and begins capturing one or more images or videos ofthe new real-world environment. As the images are captured, the newreal-world environment module 514 can use the object detection module toestimate segmentations of the objects depicted in the images.

The real-world object selection module 516 can receive the images fromthe new real-world environment module 514 and present the images on adisplay of the client device 102. For example, as shown in FIG. 8 , thereal-world object selection module 516 can present a user interface 800including an image 801 that depicts one or more real-world objects ofthe new real-world environment, such as a first real-world object 810and a second real-world object 820. The real-world object selectionmodule 516 can receive input from a user that selects a specificreal-world object depicted in the images, such as the first real-worldobject 810. For example, the real-world object selection module 516receives a gesture from the user that taps on a region of the image 801displayed on the client device 102 corresponding to the specificreal-world object (e.g., a real-world chair or first real-world object810). In response to receiving the input, the real-world objectselection module 516 obtains a real-world segmentation from the objectdetection module corresponding to the specific real-world object.

The real-world object selection module 516 retrieves the list ofpreviously generated virtual experiences. The list can be overlaid ontop of the specific real-world object. The real-world object selectionmodule 516 receives a user input that selects the first virtualexperience from the list. For example, as shown in FIG. 7 , a userinterface 700 is presented to the user at the new location (e.g., thelocation of the new real-world environment, such as a second location).The user interface 700 includes a list of different previously generatedvirtual experiences. The user interface 700 can present a message 710informing the user to select a given previously generated virtualexperience. The user interface 700 receives input from the user,selecting the first virtual experience 712, such as by tapping on thevisual representation of the first virtual experience 712. In somecases, the user interface 700 can highlight or visually distinguishcertain virtual experiences that the user interface 700 recommendsactivating. The user interface 700 can receive input, such as GPScoordinates, and can search a list of places associated with the GPScoordinates, to determine a type (e.g., furniture store, clothing store,kitchen hardware, and so forth) of the new real-world environment at theGPS coordinates. Based on the type, the user interface 700 can recommendcertain virtual experiences that correspond to the type of the newreal-world environment. For example, if the user is in a kitchenhardware store, the user interface 700 can recommend a virtualexperience that was previously generated based on real-world objects ofa kitchen. If the user is in a furniture store, the user interface 700can recommend a virtual experience that was previously generated basedon real-world objects of a living room.

In response to receiving input that selects the first virtual experience712, the real-world object selection module 516 retrieves the firstvirtual experience and generates a 3D cube over a portion of thespecific real-world object. For example, the user interface 800 (FIG. 8) includes a 3D cube 830, in which virtual objects 834, of thereal-world environment of the first location, are presented in atransparent manner over the specific real-world object (e.g., the firstreal-world object 810). The 3D cube and depict one or more portions ofthe virtual objects included in the first virtual experience. Within the3D cube (inside the cube), a progress indicator 832, such as a bouncingarrow, is displayed and animated while the first virtual experience isprocessed to render the contents of the first virtual experience withinthe context of the new real-world environment.

The real-world object selection module 516 communicates the specificreal-world object segmentation, the processed first virtual experience,and the image depicting the new real-world environment to the imagemodification module 518. The image modification module 518 uses thesegmentation of the specific real-world object to delete or removepixels of the image depicting the new real-world environment at a newlocation that is outside of the segmentation of the specific real-worldobject. In this way, any real-world object that falls outside of thesegmentation of the specific real-world object is removed from theimage, depicting the new real-world environment. As a result, only thespecific real-world object remains depicted in the image. Then, theimage modification module 518, after completing processing the firstvirtual experience, overlays the virtual objects of the first virtualexperience over the image from which the real-world objects (excludingthe specific real-world object) have been removed. Namely, the imagemodification module 518 presents the first virtual experience over allof the portions of the image depicting the new real-world environment,except the specific real-world object. For example, as shown in FIG. 9 ,the user interface 900 presents the real-world object 910 (correspondingto the selected first real-world object 810 of the new real-worldenvironment at a second location) within a view of the virtualexperience that includes one or more virtual objects 920 correspondingto real-world objects of the previously captured real-world environmentof the first location.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the image modification module 518 communicates themodified image, in which the first virtual experience is overlaid ontothe image, that includes only the specific real-world object to theimage display module 520. The image display module 520 presents themodified image on the client device 102. The image display module 520can detect that a camera, depicting the new real-world environment, hasbeen moved to capture new images of the new real-world environment.While the camera is moved, the image display module 520 continues toreceive images in which all real-world objects, except the specificreal-world object, have been removed, and over which the first virtualexperience is presented. In this way, a real-world object from a newreal-world environment can be presented within a view of the firstvirtual experience. The image display module 520 can receive input thatrotates the virtual experience. In response, the image display module520 modifies a view of the first virtual experience while keeping adepiction of the specific real-world object in the same location. Thisallows the user to see how the specific real-world object looks indifferent areas of the first virtual experience.

In some examples, the first virtual experience includes a VR experience.In such cases, the real-world object selection module 516 uses thesegmentation of the specific real-world object to generate a 3D model orvirtual representation of the specific real-world object. The real-worldobject selection module 516 communicates this virtual representation ofthe specific real-world object to the image modification module 518. Theimage modification module 518 adds the virtual representation of thespecific real-world object into the VR experience corresponding to thefirst location. The image modification module 518 can allow the user tomove around in VR to see how the virtual representation of the specificreal-world object looks within the first virtual experiencecorresponding to the first location.

The image modification module 518 can receive input that modifies one ormore portions of the virtual experience. For example, the imagemodification module 518 can receive input that adds one or more virtualobjects, changes positions of certain virtual objects, and/or removescertain virtual objects. The image modification module 518 updates theimage depicting the specific real-world object based on themodifications to the virtual experience.

In some examples, the new real-world environment module 514 detects asecond client device 102 within a threshold distance (e.g., less than 5feet) of a first client device 102, corresponding to the user whogenerated the first virtual experience. In response, the new real-worldenvironment module 514 can determine that a user of the second clientdevice 102 is friends on a social network with the user of the firstclient device 102. In such cases, the new real-world environment module514 presents an option for display on the second client device 102 forthe user of the second client device 102 to join the first virtualexperience. The user of the second client device 102 can be presentedthe same virtual experience as that which is presented to the user ofthe first client device 102. Specifically, all of the real-worldobjects, except the specific real-world object, can be removed from theimages of the new real-world environment and the contents of the virtualexperience is overlaid on the modified image, in which only the specificreal-world object remains depicted. This modified image is presented ina synchronized manner to both the first and second client device 102.Input can be received from the first or second client devices 102 toperform modifications to the displayed images, such as to remove,reposition, and/or add virtual objects to the images, such as drawingson real-world or virtual walls depicted in the images.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a process 1000, in accordance with someexamples. Although the flowchart can describe the operations as asequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallelor concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may bere-arranged. A process is terminated when its operations are completed.A process may correspond to a method, a procedure, and the like. Thesteps of methods may be performed in whole or in part, may be performedin conjunction with some or all of the steps in other methods, and maybe performed by any number of different systems or any portion thereof,such as a processor included in any of the systems.

At operation 1001, a client device 102 of FIG. 1 selects, by a messagingapplication, a virtual experience that represents a previously capturedreal-world environment at a first location, as discussed above.

At operation 1002, the client device 102 accesses an image representinga new real-world environment at a second location, the image depicting aplurality of real-world objects, as discussed above.

At operation 1003, the client device 102 receives input that selects afirst real-world object from the plurality of real-world objectsdepicted in the image, as discussed above.

At operation 1004, the client device 102 modifies the image, accessed atthe second location, based on the virtual experience to depict thepreviously captured real-world environment with the first real-worldobject, as discussed above.

Machine Architecture

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic representation of the machine 1100 withinwhich instructions 1108 (e.g., software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code) for causing the machine 1100to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein may beexecuted. For example, the instructions 1108 may cause the machine 1100to execute any one or more of the methods described herein. Theinstructions 1108 transform the general, non-programmed machine 1100into a particular machine 1100, which is programmed to carry out thedescribed and illustrated functions in the manner described. The machine1100 may operate as a standalone device or may be coupled (e.g.,networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine1100 may operate in the capacity of a server machine or a client machinein a server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in apeer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine 1100 maycomprise, but not be limited to, a server computer, a client computer, apersonal computer (PC), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook,a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), anentertainment media system, a cellular telephone, a smartphone, a mobiledevice, a wearable device (e.g., a smartwatch), a smart home device(e.g., a smart appliance), other smart devices, a web appliance, anetwork router, a network switch, a network bridge, or any machinecapable of executing the instructions 1108, sequentially or otherwise,that specify actions to be taken by the machine 1100. Further, whileonly a single machine 1100 is illustrated, the term “machine” shall alsobe taken to include a collection of machines that individually orjointly execute the instructions 1108 to perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein. The machine 1100, for example, maycomprise the client device 102 or any one of a number of server devicesforming part of the messaging server system 108. In some examples, themachine 1100 may also comprise both client and server systems, withcertain operations of a particular method or algorithm, being performedon the server-side and with certain operations of the particular methodor algorithm being performed on the client-side.

The machine 1100 may include processors 1102, memory 1104, andinput/output (I/O) components 1138, which may be configured tocommunicate with each other via a bus 1140. In an example, theprocessors 1102 (e.g., a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a ReducedInstruction Set Computing (RISC) Processor, a Complex Instruction SetComputing (CISC) Processor, a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a DigitalSignal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit(ASIC), a Radio-Frequency Integrated Circuit (RFIC), another processor,or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, aprocessor 1106 and a processor 1110 that execute the instructions 1108.The term “processor” is intended to include multi-core processors thatmay comprise two or more independent processors (sometimes referred toas “cores”) that may execute instructions contemporaneously. AlthoughFIG. 11 shows multiple processors 1102, the machine 1100 may include asingle processor with a single-core, a single processor with multiplecores (e.g., a multi-core processor), multiple processors with a singlecore, multiple processors with multiples cores, or any combinationthereof.

The memory 1104 includes a main memory 1112, a static memory 1114, and astorage unit 1116, all accessible to the processors 1102 via the bus1140. The main memory 1104, the static memory 1114, and the storage unit1116 store the instructions 1108 embodying any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 1108 mayalso reside, completely or partially, within the main memory 1112,within the static memory 1114, within a machine-readable medium withinthe storage unit 1116, within at least one of the processors 1102 (e.g.,within the processor's cache memory), or any suitable combinationthereof, during execution thereof by the machine 1100.

The I/O components 1138 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 1138 that are included in a particular machine will depend onthe type of machine. For example, portable machines, such as mobilephones, may include a touch input device or other such input mechanisms,while a headless server machine will likely not include such a touchinput device. It will be appreciated that the I/O components 1138 mayinclude many other components that are not shown in FIG. 11 . In variousexamples, the I/O components 1138 may include user output components1124 and user input components 1126. The user output components 1124 mayinclude visual components (e.g., a display such as a plasma displaypanel (PDP), a light-emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)), acousticcomponents (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., a vibratory motor,resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and so forth. The userinput components 1126 may include alphanumeric input components (e.g., akeyboard, a touch screen configured to receive alphanumeric input, aphoto-optical keyboard, or other alphanumeric input components),point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, a touchpad, a trackball, ajoystick, a motion sensor, or another pointing instrument), tactileinput components (e.g., a physical button, a touch screen that provideslocation and force of touches or touch gestures, or other tactile inputcomponents), audio input components (e.g., a microphone), and the like.

In further examples, the I/O components 1138 may include biometriccomponents 1128, motion components 1130, environmental components 1132,or position components 1134, among a wide array of other components. Forexample, the biometric components 1128 include components to detectexpressions (e.g., hand expressions, facial expressions, vocalexpressions, body gestures, or eye-tracking), measure biosignals (e.g.,blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, perspiration, or brainwaves), identify a person (e.g., voice identification, retinalidentification, facial identification, fingerprint identification, orelectroencephalogram-based identification), and the like. The motioncomponents 1130 include acceleration sensor components (e.g.,accelerometer), gravitation sensor components, and rotation sensorcomponents (e.g., gyroscope).

The environmental components 1132 include, for example, one or morecameras (with still image/photograph and video capabilities),illumination sensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensorcomponents (e.g., one or more thermometers that detect ambienttemperature), humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components(e.g., barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or moremicrophones that detect background noise), proximity sensor components(e.g., infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g.,gas detection sensors to detection concentrations of hazardous gases forsafety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other componentsthat may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding toa surrounding physical environment.

With respect to cameras, the client device 102 may have a camera systemcomprising of, for example, front cameras on a front surface of theclient device 102 and rear cameras on a rear surface of the clientdevice 102. The front cameras may, for example, be used to capture stillimages and video of a user of the client device 102 (e.g., “selfies”),which may then be augmented with augmentation data (e.g., filters)described above. The rear cameras may, for example, be used to capturestill images and videos in a more traditional camera mode, with theseimages similarly being augmented with augmentation data. In addition tofront and rear cameras, the client device 102 may also include a 360°camera for capturing 360° photographs and videos.

Further, the camera system of a client device 102 may include dual rearcameras (e.g., a primary camera as well as a depth-sensing camera), oreven triple, quad, or penta rear camera configurations on the front andrear sides of the client device 102. These multiple cameras systems mayinclude a wide camera, an ultra-wide camera, a telephoto camera, a macrocamera, and a depth sensor, for example.

The position components 1134 include location sensor components (e.g., aGPS receiver component), altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters orbarometers that detect air pressure from which altitude may be derived),orientation sensor components (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 1138 further include communication components 1136operable to couple the machine 1100 to a network 1120 or devices 1122via respective coupling or connections. For example, the communicationcomponents 1136 may include a network interface component or anothersuitable device to interface with the network 1120. In further examples,the communication components 1136 may include wired communicationcomponents, wireless communication components, cellular communicationcomponents, Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), WiFi® components, and othercommunication components to provide communication via other modalities.The devices 1122 may be another machine or any of a wide variety ofperipheral devices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a USB).

Moreover, the communication components 1136 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 1136 may include Radio Frequency Identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components1136, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geolocation, locationvia Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting an NFC beaconsignal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

The various memories (e.g., main memory 1112, static memory 1114, andmemory of the processors 1102) and storage unit 1116 may store one ormore sets of instructions and data structures (e.g., software) embodyingor used by any one or more of the methodologies or functions describedherein. These instructions (e.g., the instructions 1108), when executedby processors 1102, cause various operations to implement the disclosedexamples.

The instructions 1108 may be transmitted or received over the network1120, using a transmission medium, via a network interface device (e.g.,a network interface component included in the communication components1136) and using any one of several well-known transfer protocols (e.g.,HTTP). Similarly, the instructions 1108 may be transmitted or receivedusing a transmission medium via a coupling (e.g., a peer-to-peercoupling) to the devices 1122.

Software Architecture

FIG. 12 is a block diagram 1200 illustrating a software architecture1204, which can be installed on any one or more of the devices describedherein. The software architecture 1204 is supported by hardware, such asa machine 1202, that includes processors 1220, memory 1226, and I/Ocomponents 1238. In this example, the software architecture 1204 can beconceptualized as a stack of layers, where each layer provides aparticular functionality. The software architecture 1204 includes layerssuch as an operating system 1212, libraries 1210, frameworks 1208, andoperating system 1206. Operationally, the applications 1206 invoke APIcalls 1250 through the software stack and receive messages 1252 inresponse to the API calls 1250.

The operating system 1212 manages hardware resources and provides commonservices. The operating system 1212 includes, for example, a kernel1214, services 1216, and drivers 1222. The kernel 1214 acts as anabstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 1214 provides memory management, processormanagement (e.g., scheduling), component management, networking, andsecurity settings, among other functionalities. The services 1216 canprovide other common services for the other software layers. The drivers1222 are responsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlyinghardware. For instance, the drivers 1222 can include display drivers,camera drivers, BLUETOOTH® or BLUETOOTH® Low Energy drivers, flashmemory drivers, serial communication drivers (e.g., USB drivers), WI-FI®drivers, audio drivers, power management drivers, and so forth.

The libraries 1210 provide a common low-level infrastructure used by theapplications 1206. The libraries 1210 can include system libraries 1218(e.g., C standard library) that provide functions such as memoryallocation functions, string manipulation functions, mathematicfunctions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 1210 can include APIlibraries 1224, such as media libraries (e.g., libraries to supportpresentation and manipulation of various media formats such as MovingPicture Experts Group-4 (MPEG4), Advanced Video Coding (H.264 or AVC),Moving Picture Experts Group Layer-3 (MP3), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC),Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) audio codec, Joint Photographic Experts Group(JPEG or JPG), or Portable Network Graphics (PNG)), graphics libraries(e.g., an OpenGL framework used to render in 2D and 3D in a graphiccontent on a display), database libraries (e.g., SQLite to providevarious relational database functions), web libraries (e.g., WebKit toprovide web browsing functionality), and the like. The libraries 1210can also include a wide variety of other libraries 1228 to provide manyother APIs to the applications 1206.

The frameworks 1208 provide a common high-level infrastructure that isused by the applications 1206. For example, the frameworks 1208 providevarious GUI functions, high-level resource management, and high-levellocation services. The frameworks 1208 can provide a broad spectrum ofother APIs that can be used by the applications 1206, some of which maybe specific to a particular operating system or platform.

In an example, the applications 1206 may include a home application1236, a contacts application 1230, a browser application 1232, a bookreader application 1234, a location application 1242, a mediaapplication 1244, a messaging application 1246, a game application 1248,and a broad assortment of other applications such as an externalapplication 1240. The applications 1206 are programs that executefunctions defined in the programs. Various programming languages can beemployed to create one or more of the applications 1206, structured in avariety of manners, such as object-oriented programming languages (e.g.,Objective-C, Java, or C++) or procedural programming languages (e.g., Cor assembly language). In a specific example, the external application1240 (e.g., an application developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ SDK byan entity other than the vendor of the particular platform) may bemobile software running on a mobile operating system, such as IOS™,ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or another mobile operating system. In thisexample, the external application 1240 can invoke the API calls 1250,provided by the operating system 1212 to facilitate functionalitydescribed herein.

Glossary

“Carrier signal” refers to any intangible medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by themachine, and includes digital or analog communications signals or otherintangible media to facilitate communication of such instructions.Instructions may be transmitted or received over a network using atransmission medium via a network interface device.

“Client device” refers to any machine that interfaces to acommunications network to obtain resources from one or more serversystems or other client devices. A client device may be, but is notlimited to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop, PDAs, smartphones,tablets, ultrabooks, netbooks, laptops, multi-processor systems,microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, gameconsoles, set-top boxes, or any other communication device that a usermay use to access a network.

“Communication network” refers to one or more portions of a network thatmay be an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual privatenetwork (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a widearea network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network(MAN), the Internet, a portion of the Internet, a portion of the PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN), a plain old telephone service (POTS)network, a cellular telephone network, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi®network, another type of network, or a combination of two or more suchnetworks. For example, a network or a portion of a network may include awireless or cellular network and the coupling may be a Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA) connection, a Global System for Mobilecommunications (GSM) connection, or other types of cellular or wirelesscoupling. In this example, the coupling may implement any of a varietyof types of data transfer technology, such as Single Carrier RadioTransmission Technology (1×RTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO)technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology, EnhancedData rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) technology, third GenerationPartnership Project (3GPP) including 3G, fourth generation wireless (4G)networks, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), High SpeedPacket Access (HSPA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access(WiMAX), Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard, others defined by variousstandard-setting organizations, other long-range protocols, or otherdata transfer technology.

“Component” refers to a device, physical entity, or logic havingboundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branch points, APIs,or other technologies that provide for the partitioning ormodularization of particular processing or control functions. Componentsmay be combined via their interfaces with other components to carry outa machine process. A component may be a packaged functional hardwareunit designed for use with other components, and a part of a programthat usually performs a particular function of related functions.

Components may constitute either software components (e.g., codeembodied on a machine-readable medium) or hardware components. A“hardware component” is a tangible unit capable of performing certainoperations and may be configured or arranged in a certain physicalmanner. In various examples, one or more computer systems (e.g., astandalone computer system, a client computer system, or a servercomputer system) or one or more hardware components of a computer system(e.g., a processor or a group of processors) may be configured bysoftware (e.g., an application or application portion) as a hardwarecomponent that operates to perform certain operations as describedherein.

A hardware component may also be implemented mechanically,electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, ahardware component may include dedicated circuitry or logic that ispermanently configured to perform certain operations. A hardwarecomponent may be a special-purpose processor, such as afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an ASIC. A hardware componentmay also include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarilyconfigured by software to perform certain operations. For example, ahardware component may include software executed by a general-purposeprocessor or other programmable processor. Once configured by suchsoftware, hardware components become specific machines (or specificcomponents of a machine) uniquely tailored to perform the configuredfunctions and are no longer general-purpose processors. It will beappreciated that the decision to implement a hardware componentmechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software), may bedriven by cost and time considerations. Accordingly, the phrase“hardware component” (or “hardware-implemented component”) should beunderstood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that isphysically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), ortemporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manneror to perform certain operations described herein.

Considering examples in which hardware components are temporarilyconfigured (e.g., programmed), each of the hardware components need notbe configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example,where a hardware component comprises a general-purpose processor,configured by software to become a special-purpose processor, thegeneral-purpose processor may be configured as respectively differentspecial-purpose processors (e.g., comprising different hardwarecomponents) at different times. Software accordingly configures aparticular processor or processors, for example, to constitute aparticular hardware component at one instance of time and to constitutea different hardware component at a different instance of time.

Hardware components can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardwarecomponents may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Wheremultiple hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications maybe achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) between or among two or more of the hardware components. Inexamples in which multiple hardware components are configured orinstantiated at different times, communications between such hardwarecomponents may be achieved, for example, through the storage andretrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware components have access. For example, one hardware component mayperform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memorydevice to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardwarecomponent may then, at a later time, access the memory device toretrieve and process the stored output. Hardware components may alsoinitiate communications with input or output devices, and can operate ona resource (e.g., a collection of information).

The various operations of example methods described herein may beperformed, at least partially, by one or more processors that aretemporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured toperform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors may constitute processor-implementedcomponents that operate to perform one or more operations or functionsdescribed herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component”refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors.Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors beingan example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations ofa method may be performed by one or more processors 1102 orprocessor-implemented components. Moreover, the one or more processorsmay also operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a“cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS).For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a groupof computers (as examples of machines including processors), with theseoperations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and viaone or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an API). The performance ofcertain of the operations may be distributed among the processors, notonly residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number ofmachines. In some examples, the processors or processor-implementedcomponents may be located in a single geographic location (e.g., withina home environment, an office environment, or a server farm). In otherexamples, the processors or processor-implemented components may bedistributed across a number of geographic locations.

“Computer-readable storage medium” refers to both machine-storage mediaand transmission media. Thus, the terms include both storagedevices/media and carrier waves/modulated data signals. The terms“machine-readable medium,” “computer-readable medium,” and“device-readable medium” mean the same thing and may be usedinterchangeably in this disclosure.

“Ephemeral message” refers to a message that is accessible for atime-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be a text, an image, avideo, and the like. The access time for the ephemeral message may beset by the message sender. Alternatively, the access time may be adefault setting, or a setting specified by the recipient. Regardless ofthe setting technique, the message is transitory.

“Machine storage medium” refers to a single or multiple storage devicesand media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and associatedcaches and servers) that store executable instructions, routines, anddata. The term shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limitedto, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media, includingmemory internal or external to processors. Specific examples ofmachine-storage media, computer-storage media and device-storage mediainclude non-volatile memory, including by way of example semiconductormemory devices, e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), FPGA, andflash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks andremovable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks.The terms “machine-storage medium,” “device-storage medium,” and“computer-storage medium” mean the same thing and may be usedinterchangeably in this disclosure. The terms “machine-storage media,”“computer-storage media,” and “device-storage media” specificallyexclude carrier waves, modulated data signals, and other such media, atleast some of which are covered under the term “signal medium.”

“Non-transitory computer-readable storage medium” refers to a tangiblemedium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying theinstructions for execution by a machine.

“Signal medium” refers to any intangible medium that is capable ofstoring, encoding, or carrying the instructions for execution by amachine and includes digital or analog communications signals or otherintangible media to facilitate communication of software or data. Theterm “signal medium” shall be taken to include any form of a modulateddata signal, carrier wave, and so forth. The term “modulated datasignal” means a signal that has one or more of its characteristics setor changed in such a matter as to encode information in the signal. Theterms “transmission medium” and “signal medium” mean the same thing andmay be used interchangeably in this disclosure.

Changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed examples withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. These and otherchanges or modifications are intended to be included within the scope ofthe present disclosure, as expressed in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: selecting, by a messagingapplication, a virtual experience that represents a previously capturedreal-world environment at a first location; accessing an imagerepresenting a new real-world environment at a second location, theimage depicting a plurality of real-world objects; receiving input thatselects a first real-world object from the plurality of real-worldobjects depicted in the image; and modifying the image, accessed at thesecond location, based on the virtual experience, to depict thepreviously captured real-world environment with the first real-worldobject.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual experiencecomprises an augmented reality (AR) experience, and wherein modifyingthe image comprises: identifying a subset of the real-world objectsdepicted in the image that excludes the selected first real-worldobject; and overlaying the AR experience on top of the subset of thereal-world objects that excludes the selected first real-world object.3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: removing the subset of thereal-world objects from the image to keep only the first real-worldobject in the image.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:capturing the image as part of a real-time feed received from a cameraof client device; detecting movement of the camera of the client device;and adjusting a relative position of the first real-world object withina view of the previously captured real-world environment depicted in themodified image as the movement of the camera is detected.
 5. The methodof claim 4, wherein adjusting the relative position comprises rotatingthe view of the previously captured real-world environment while thefirst real-world object remains stationary.
 6. The method of claim 1,further comprising: capturing one or more images at the first locationusing a camera of a client device; generating a three-dimensional (3D)model of the real-world environment at the first location using the oneor more images; and generating the virtual experience based on the 3Dmodel of the real-world environment at the first location.
 7. The methodof claim 6, further comprising: receiving data collected by at least oneof a lidar sensor or Neural radiance fields (NeRF) to generate the 3Dmodel.
 8. The method of claim 6, further comprising applying a neuralnetwork to generate the 3D model.
 9. The method of claim 6, wherein thevirtual experience comprises a first virtual experience, furthercomprising: capturing one or more images at a third location using thecamera of the client device; generating a 3D model of a real-worldenvironment at the third location using the one or more images capturedat the third location; and generating a second virtual experience basedon the 3D model of the real-world environment at the third location. 10.The method of claim 9, further comprising: storing a list of previouslycaptured real-world environments comprising the first and second virtualexperiences; and displaying, by the messaging application, the list ofpreviously captured real-world environments comprising the first andsecond virtual experiences.
 11. The method of claim 10, whereinselecting, by the messaging application, the virtual experiencecomprises receiving input that selects the first virtual experience fromthe displayed list of previously captured real-world environments. 12.The method of claim 1, further comprising: modifying one or more virtualitems included as part of the virtual experience.
 13. The method ofclaim 12, wherein modifying the one or more virtual items comprises atleast one of moving, removing, or adding the virtual items in thevirtual experience.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtualexperience comprises a virtual reality (VR) experience, furthercomprising: generating a virtual representation of the first real-worldobject; and adding the virtual representation of the first real-worldobject to the VR experience.
 15. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising training a neural network to segment real-world items byperforming operations comprising: receiving training data comprising aplurality of training images and ground truth real-world itemsegmentations for each of the plurality of training images, each of theplurality of training images depicting a different type of real-worldenvironment; applying the neural network to a first training image ofthe plurality of training images to estimate segmentations of itemsdepicted in the first training image; computing a deviation between theestimated segmentations and the ground truth real-segmentationsassociated with the first training image; and updating parameters of theneural network based on the computed deviation.
 16. The method of claim1, further comprising: presenting the modified image on a first clientdevice of a first user; detecting a second user within a thresholdproximity to the first user, the second user being a friend of the firstuser on the messaging application; and providing an option to a secondclient device of the second user to join the first user in the virtualexperience.
 17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: receivinginput from the second client device that modifies one or more virtualelements presented in the modified image; and applying one or morefurther modifications to the image based on the input received from thesecond client device.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the inputcomprises virtually drawing on walls depicted in the modified image. 19.A system comprising: a processor configured to perform operationscomprising: selecting, by a messaging application, a virtual experiencethat represents a previously captured real-world environment at a firstlocation; accessing an image representing a new real-world environmentat a second location, the image depicting a plurality of real-worldobjects; receiving input that selects a first real-world object from theplurality of real-world objects depicted in the image; and modifying theimage, accessed at the second location, based on the virtual experienceto depict the previously captured real-world environment with the firstreal-world object.
 20. A non-transitory machine-readable storage mediumthat includes instructions that, when executed by one or more processorsof a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:selecting, by a messaging application, a virtual experience thatrepresents a previously captured real-world environment at a firstlocation; accessing an image representing a new real-world environmentat a second location, the image depicting a plurality of real-worldobjects; receiving input that selects a first real-world object from theplurality of real-world objects depicted in the image; and modifying theimage, accessed at the second location, based on the virtual experienceto depict the previously captured real-world environment with the firstreal-world object.